CAPABLE Program adds section for caregivers, expands to Hays, Williamson

The Area Agency on Aging of the Capital Area, a CAPCOG division, will expand the service area of the evidence-based intervention program, CAPABLE, that partners nurses, occupational therapists, and home repair professionals with older adults to assist them with aging in place to two additional counties in 2023. AAACAP also will pilot the program’s newest addition that supports participating older adults’ caregivers.

“AAACAP is proud to be one of three test sites selected by Johns Hopkins University to offer the CAPABLE Care Partners pilot program that allows caregiver to work with these practitioners to learn about communicating with healthcare providers, resources and supports for older adults and caregivers, and managing a more mobile and safer home environment,” said Sherry Wright, CAPCOG social services project coordinator, noting the university created the program. “Our goal is for caregivers to feel more comfortable and knowledgeable about providing care while strengthening their own selfcare.”

The program will serve residents in portions of Hays and Williamson counties this year after having helped about 50 residents in Bastrop and Caldwell counties since 2020. AAACAP will offer the Care Partners program to about 10 caregivers caring for a CAPABLE participant; the caregivers will have three sessions with a Care Partner Support Specialist to discuss topics and concerns related to caregiving. The CAPABLE program will still be delivered to additional qualifying participants throughout the expanded service area. AAACAP plans to use lessons-learned from the limited implementation to seek funding for providing the program regionwide. Currently funded by a St. David’s Foundation grant, the program is participant lead over roughly four-months and works to increase the participant’s capacity to function at home and decrease the risk of hospitalization and nursing home stays by improving medication management, problem-solving ability, strength, balance, mobility, nutrition, and home safety while decreasing isolation, depression, and fall risk. It allows AAACAP and the participant to monitor their health improvements and adapt interventions around physical and social determinants of health, such as transportation, finances, education, family support, health literacy and home environment.

Contact Wright at swright@capcog.org for more information or about becoming a participant in the program.